


Game Changer

by wendywrites



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Football Player Louis, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-01
Updated: 2013-08-01
Packaged: 2017-12-22 01:56:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/907516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wendywrites/pseuds/wendywrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After scoring the game-winning goal, Louis kisses Liam on the field, changing their relationship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game Changer

It's been raining on and off since the beginning of the second half, there's a thick layer of mud coating Liam's shoes and he may end up with a nasty case of ringworm but he doesn't care. Nothing could make Liam miss watching Louis on the field. He has never been a huge football fan, the few times he's sat down to watch a match with his father had him paying more attention to the movement of the parts of his watch rather than the players on the screen. But he could -and has-watch Louis run up and down the field for hours. He's got rippling muscles and shapely legs, strong arms and an arse you could bounce a coin off. His signature tackles have a smoothness to them that makes him like poetry in motion. 

 

Liam is jerked out of his thoughts by the piercing shriek of the referee's whistle and the answering roar of the crowd. It's the final minute of the final, the match has gone into extra time, both teams are tied at 1-1, and their team has just been awarded a penalty. Louis takes it, of course. Although Liam still wouldn't describe himself as a football fan, he finds himself chewing on the nail of his thumb, his right leg jiggling furiously, as his body rocks in his seat. If they win then Louis will be happy, and Liam would do just about anything to keep Louis smiling; the other boy has done so much for him in the short time that he's known Liam. If they lose..., well things will never be as terrible as they were before Louis moved to Wolverhampton from Doncaster, but they could still be pretty bad. 

 

He flinches from a punch to the face, imaginary now but real once upon a time. He wipes invisible blood from his lips and tenderly presses his fingers to a shiner that has long healed up. He shrugs his shoulders in an attempt to shake off the memories - _It won't happen again, I'm much stronger now and Louis is here. He wouldn't let them hurt me. It won't happen again!_ \- but the cold creeping hands of fear already have him in a vice. It makes Liam do the unthinkable, he closes his eyes and misses Louis penalty kick. He crowd roars again and Liam can feel his seat and eardrums vibrate from the people in the seats around him jumping and cheering. They've won then and he missed Louis's probably spectacular shot worrying over nothing.

Liam is half out of his seat, ready to slink away in shame, but Louis is breaking out of the team group hug and running over towards his section, arms spread out and screaming like a madman. Louis is immediately hugged, kissed, squeezed, and probably groped by a tidal wave of people all wanting to congratulate him for giving their town something to brag about, but he pushes his way through until he's in front of Liam. He's missing his jersey and his hair is sticking up in all directions like it does after a match.

“Leeyum!” he crows while he grabs Liam by the shoulders and pulls him into a backbreaking hug. The feeling of Louis' naked chest pressed tightly to Liam's leaves him breathless. So do Louis' arms wrapped tightly around his waist, literally and figuratively. Liam wraps his own arms around Louis' back, holding on as he's shaken and swung around, Louis shouting gleefully right in his ear. He still feels guilty about missing Louis's game-winning goal, but he feels a grin pull at the corner of his lips anyway. It's difficult to wallow and mope when Louis is around. 

“Congratulations Louis! I'm so proud of you.” As close as they are Liam isn't sure Louis can hear him over the cheers of the crowd, he can barely hear himself. Louis pulls out of their embrace, manic grin on his face and he grabs Liam's face by the cheeks and pulls him in for a kiss. Liam feels his whole body freeze, his insides feeling cold and hot at the same time, and his vision is blurring to the point where he can barely make out Louis' face in front of him. In real time the kiss is over in less than two seconds but to Liam it lasts several lifetimes.  
“W-wha?” is all Liam can sputter, jaw dropped, before Louis is winking at him and melting into the crowd.

~~~~~

It's three hours later and Liam is still buzzing from that kiss. After he managed to free himself from the crush of the celebrating crowd, he told himself get too excited, it probably didn't mean anything, just an adrenaline fueled display of affection. But then Louis sent him a text – _meet me at our usual spot at about 10:30 ;]_ – and now he's grinning so hard his cheeks hurt and everytime he lifts a hand to them they're warm to the touch. He quickly glances around to make sure no-one is around before he starts dancing in joy, but he's so happy he honestly wouldn't even care if a hundred people watched him make a prat of himself. 

Liam loses himself in his daydreams so often that he ends up being fifteen minutes late to meet Louis. He runs the rest of the way there just in case he's kept Louis waiting. Louis is often late but hates to be kept waiting. It's nearly 11 om when Liam finally gets to the lake and he immediately spots Louis sitting by the shore.

“You're late,” he says sharply.

“So were you, probably,” Liam retorts.

“You kept me waiting.” Louis neatly sidesteps Liam's accusation, confirming to Liam that he arrived about five minutes ago.

“Sorry 'bout that, I was a bit lost in thought.” It would be pointless to argue with Louis, he's so stubborn and averse to being wrong (even when he know's he's wrong) that they would just waste the rest of the night arguing and there were other things Liam wanted to do. 

“You're lucky I'm still over the moon about winning the match, otherwise I'd stop talking to you,” Louis says with a blank expression. For a second Liam thinks he's actually upset, but then Louis breaks out into a grin and it's like the sun emerging from the clouds.

“Come here, you.” Louis extends his hand. Liam grins and takes it, chuckling when he's twirled around and dipped. Liam straightens but doesn't let go of Louis' hand. Without warning, Louis drops to the grass and Liam, still connected by their hands, is pulled beside him. Neither speaks for a short while and even with the uncertainty of the kiss and what it means for their relationship hanging over them, it's a comfortable silence. Right when Liam is about to open his mouth to mention it, he feels a tug on his hand and finds himself falling sideways. He has a soft landing on Louis' lips, his hands coming up t cup liam's face. Liam can see the furrowing of his brows and he's completely charmed by the fact that Louis is actually as nervous about this as he is. Unbidden, a laugh escapes him, muffled by Louis' mouth.

“Are you laughing at me?” Louis' voice is a bit rough and somehow that increases Liam's amusement. 

“I'm laughing at myself, I was worried for nothing.” 

“Worried about what?” Louis cocks an eyebrow.

“I thought that first kiss might've been a fluke or something. That I'd gotten excited for nothing. Clearly I was wrong though.”  
“Why would it be a fluke?”

“Dunno, could've just been an adrenaline thing,” Liam mumbles while scratching the back of his neck, eyes downcast. You could have anyone you want, it's a bit surprising you'd go for me. I'm honestly still a bit surprised you wanted to be my friend.” Liam's head is raised by a firm hand and he sees fire burning in Louis' eyes. He's pulled forward again.

“Don't put yourself down like that. You're incredible. The best thing about this whole town,” Louis says between gentle kisses.

“Sure,” Liam says weakly, partially due to his disbelief and partially due to the fact that he can hardly think with Louis kissing him. 

They don't talk much after that, just continue kissing until Liam's watch goes off, signaling his approaching curfew. Right before they go their separate ways, Louis grabs Liam's hand, bows deeply and kisses it. 

“Goodnight,” he says dramatically.

“Night Louis,” Liam laughs before floating home.

~~

Even before they won the championship Louis was the king of the school, he just had the sort of personality that made you want to impress him and earn his favour and being the captain and star player of the football team certainly helped, after Louis became nigh untouchable. He could do whatever the fuck he wanted, not that he couldn't or wouldn't before, but now there weren't any consequences to worry about. Liam half jokingly begged him to use his powers for good and not evil, Louis simply smiled at him with a mischievous gleam in his eyes. Liam spends his walk to school the next Monday morning with visions of Louis breaking into the headmaster's office and stealing all his furniture, or Louis spiking the school lunches with laxatives or other such misdemeanours. Louis subverts Liam's expectations entirely. 

 

This morning's general assembly is full of spirit and energy, the whole school still on a high from Friday's game. The headmaster makes a show of presenting the team with their various medals and trophies, Louis of course receiving individual awards. The coach gestures for Louis to take the microphone and make a speech to the encouragement of the rest of the team and most of the school.  
Louis makes and exaggerated show of being choked up and wipes away a fake tear.

“Well, first of all I'd like to wish a good morning to you, my schoolmates, THE CHAMPIONSHIP HOLDERS!” The whole school erupts into cheers. Louis really has a knack for winding people up. 

“As exceptional a player as I am, I could not have done any of this on my own. Give a huge cheer for my teammates and our coach! Love you, lads!” The school breaks out into another equally loud cheer and Liam wonders if they'll have their voices by the time Louis is finished.

“There's also someone that I would like to personally single out. Ladies and gents, a round of applause for my best mate, Liam Payne. Get up here, Liam!” Several heads swing around to look at him and Liam has never felt more put on the spot. 

“I said _get up here, Liam!_ ” That jolts Liam into motion and prompts applause from the school that is noticeably quieter than before. Liam's entire body feels heavy beneath the weight of a thousand stares but he keeps moving forward, desperately trying to figure out what Louis is playing at. 

“Finally, took you ages to get here,” he says, and it's like they're back at the lake, completely alone and relaxed in the other's company. His expression changes and there's that gleam in his eyes again.

“Yes, I owe a lot of my success as captain to Liam. He was my first friend when I first moved here from Doncaster, helped me find my way around the town and showed me all the hidden gems that only locals know about. He's been great with my little sisters, watching over them and keeping them occupied so that I've had more freedom to attend practices. 

“He's made me ice baths and let me practically break his hands when I had to get in them. He's stopped me from playing on injuries and makes sure I eat something besides pizza and chocolate.

“Liam, you're the best mate I could ever ask for and I love you.” Before Liam's jaw can drop to the ground, Louis swoops in and kisses him fiercely. It's all Liam can do to grab his shoulders and try not to faint. Liam isn't sure if he's lost his sense of hearing or the assembly hall has really just gone _that quiet_ until he hears the sniggers and catcalls of Louis' teammates. Louis pulls away and gives a challenging look to the assembly.

“Now where's that round of applause?” The cheers, applause and stomping from the crowd is even louder than it was before and Liam doesn't know if it's because they're all that happy for Louis or if they're all that scared of Louis but he can't bring himself to care when Louis is kissing him again. 

 

~~~

“What the fuck, Louis?!” is the first thing Liam says to him when they're finally alone at the end of the day in the comfort of Liam's room. He's simultaneously giddy and outraged. “That could've ended really badly. Like seriously terribly.” Louis just shrugs.

“Yeah, but it didn't, so all's well that ends well.” For some reason that Liam can't quite name, this lax attitude pisses him off.

 

“Look, just because you can shrug off anything shit that people throw at you doesn't mean that everyone else can!” Liam and Louis both are shocked at the venom in Liam's voice. Underneath that shock Liam can see doubt and guilt niggling at Louis. He deflates immediately, he could never stay angry with Louis for too long. 

“It's not that I mind people know about...about us, I just wish you would've given me some notice is all.” Liam nervously runs his hands through his hair. There's barely an 'us' and he can't help but think he's spoiled it before it could truly start.

“That would've ruined the surprise,” Louis weakly offers and Liam can hear the apology in it. Liam kicks at Louis' trainers because he doesn't know what else to do. Louis kicks back and Liam tackles him onto his bed. Soon enough the two boys are rolling around on Liam's bed, falling off, and then they're wrestling on the floor. 

“Keep the noise down!” Liam's sister Ruth storms into the room, hurling a cushion at their heads. “I can barely hear my boyfriend on the phone!”

“Good plan to stop the noise by making more noise!” Liam retorts.

“Shut the fuck up, Liam!”

“Ruth, language!” Liam's mother calls from downstairs.

“Why are we all yelling?!” Louis asks.

“I don't know!” Liam answers. Then the two of them are laughing hysterically and Ruth leaves in a huff. After their laughter calms down, they lie there on the floor still on top of each other. Abruptly the atmosphere shifts and Louis leans down to claim Liam's lips in a kiss. Everytime they kiss is different from the last. Their first kiss was full fueled by adrenaline, their kisses by the lake were soft and sweet, their kiss in front of the assembly was to make a point and this kiss is heated and full of promise. Is Louis really trying to take this somewhere while Liam's entire family is in the house and the door isn't even closed?

“Um, excuse me. Lads?” It's Liam's father, Geoff. Of course. Liam breaks the kiss, face red from arousal and embarrassment, but Louis is unfazed as per usual. “You might want to...” he trails off, swinging the door back and forth. 

“Also I'd recommend you not have sex on the floor. Very uncomfortable.” Liam isn't sure if he's more mortified by the fact that his father is likely speaking from personal experience, probably with his mother, or that he's caught them in the act, but he wants to be swallowed by the earth either way. 

“Duly noted, Mr. Payne.” 

“Geoff,” he corrects before he's nodding and closing the door.

“Well, that killed my libido,” Liam groans, rolling Louis off him so he can stand up. 

“Guess I'll just have to resurrect it.” Louis gets that familiar gleam in his eye before he's tackling Liam onto the bed.


End file.
